With Winter Olympics over, L.A. is officially on the clock for 2028 Summer Games

VERONA, Italy — At the Verona fair, Los Angeles, unofficially, took over.

As the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France during the closing ceremony on Sunday, transmitting the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will next burn in Los Angeles.

In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is growing in popularity but unsteady in a changing world as the Games return to Los Angeles for a third time.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to reap record numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers tuned in for the United States’ thrilling overtime victory over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014, averaging 26.7 million viewers who also saw U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.

The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan, just as Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, a mother of two, did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first bobsleigh gold medal, jumping into her nanny’s arms and, in tears, signing to her deaf children: “Mommy won.”

Regardless of protests, political issues or planning hurdles, the Olympics have sought to remain a stage for these athletes to shine.

“You have shown us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told the Olympians in her speech, standing on a dais in the stands in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”

Following the record numbers of the Paris 2024 Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, representing 80% of expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations”, Andrea Varnier, general director of Milano Cortina 2026, said at a press conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, with 14%, came in second in the number of tickets purchased.

Fans filled the arenas which were completed just in time in Milan. They weathered snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath as several skiers were airlifted from the Cortina downhill course.

The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours of train travel and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally came together into one city known for its love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games seemingly represented every Shakespearean theme.

The athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which required an average of 365 kilos of pasta and 10,000 eggs per day. A cheating scandal has rocked curling.

The closing ceremony, held in the Roman amphitheater in the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet,” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But behind the glittering gold medals, there was pain.

Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific accident and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified after refusing to compete without his helmet in tribute to Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.

(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

Already carrying the weight of their personal dreams, American athletes faced added pressure in answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States in the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old a “real loser” on social media.

Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and index finger in an “L” shape to his forehead after his first qualifying race.

Athletes have asked for help to deal with the onslaught of threats on social media as Olympic attention grows with each Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a protection unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were removed during the Paris Games, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games was not yet finalized.

With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second most medals with 33, including 12 gold, the most Olympic titles for the country at any Winter Games. The total number of gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.

After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice over the next eight years. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Games and Utah the 2034 Winter Games.

Approaching the final part of an 11-year planning period, the Los Angeles Games faced another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for the resignation of LA28 president Casey Wasserman after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in Epstein’s files. After initial hesitation, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.

But LA28 has redoubled its role. The LA28 board’s executive committee backed Wasserman after a review by an outside legal firm found the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”

Like his 2026 organizing committee counterpart, Giovanni Malago, Wasserman is expected to deliver speeches in 2028.